Speer Dream Foundation

The Speer Dream Foundation is a faith-based family philanthropy established in July 2022, rooted in the legacy of Roy Speer, co-founder of the Home Shopping Network (HSN). CEO and Executive Trustee Lisa Vickers — Roy Speer's daughter — leads the foundation alongside Executive Director Tim Whipple from their downtown St. Petersburg headquarters at 100 2nd Avenue South.

The giving philosophy is personal, community-driven, and explicitly Christian in its framing. The foundation describes its work as "being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ" and organizes its internal culture around eight core values: Faith, Courageous Action, Integrity, Transparency, Purpose Over Preference, Respect, Compassion, and Collaborative Spirit. These values are not window dressing — they shape how the team evaluates partners and proposals.

Giving is structured around four programmatic pillars: Education (student success, scholarships, and youth development), Medical Support (equipment, research, and hospital partnerships), Military and First Responder Assistance, and Community Outreach. In practice, the foundation also funds adjacent areas including arts and culture, making it more flexible than the four-pillar framework suggests.

Geographic focus is strictly Tampa Bay — all 50+ known grantees are located in Pinellas or Hillsborough counties. This is a hard constraint. Applications from organizations without direct Tampa Bay programs or beneficiaries will not succeed.

Speer Dream is a young foundation in rapid growth mode. IRS data shows just $20,940 in total giving in 2022, its startup year. By July 2024, a single grant round disbursed more than $2.3 million to 21 organizations. That trajectory suggests an active appetite for new grantee relationships, not a closed, invitation-only posture.

The application pathway runs through Submittable (speerdream.submittable.com/submit), with disbursements twice per year in June and December. There is no published LOI requirement. First-time applicants should contact info@speerdream.org or call 727-405-1515 before submitting — the foundation's emphasis on "collaborative spirit" and partnership-based work signals that relationship context meaningfully informs how new applications are received.

The Speer Dream Foundation's financial trajectory tells a story of rapid deployment from a well-capitalized starting position. The 2022 IRS filing — the foundation's first year — shows total assets of $34,224,631, built almost entirely from $42,951,396 in initial contributions to endow the organization. Net investment income was $1,766,339 in that inaugural year, but total giving was just $20,940 as the team established operations.

By 2024, the foundation had reached full grantmaking velocity. A single semiannual round in July 2024 disbursed over $2.3 million to 21 Tampa Bay nonprofits — an average of approximately $110,000 per grant. The sole publicly confirmed individual grant in that round was $130,000 to the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts, consistent with that average. The October 2024 emergency hurricane relief round added $472,500 across nine organizations (average ~$52,500 per organization), with total 2024 relief giving targeted at $600,000. Combined, 2024 total giving likely exceeded $2.9 million.

Grant size appears to vary by program area:

• Education: Multiple grantees including St. Petersburg College, Academy Prep, LiFT, and Reach St. Pete suggest grants in the $50,000–$150,000 range
• Medical Support: Equipment-based gifts (the Zeiss Kinevo Microscope for St. Anthony's Hospital) may represent capital outlays above typical grant averages
• Military and First Responder: Coast Guard Foundation, Heroes of St. Pete Police & Fire Rescue, and Tampa Bay Chiefs Foundation appear as recurring recipients; amounts not publicly disclosed
• Emergency/Community Outreach: Hurricane relief grants ranged roughly $30,000–$75,000 per organization based on the nine-grantee, $472,500 total

All known grantees are local to Pinellas or Hillsborough County — no national or statewide organizations appear in the portfolio. The foundation distributes broadly across many organizations rather than concentrating large multi-year commitments, with 21+ recipients in a single cycle. With ~$34M in assets and a current giving rate of ~8–9% of assets annually, grant seekers targeting the $50,000–$200,000 range will find the strongest match to observed patterns.

The five peer foundations share nearly identical asset bases (~$34.1M–$34.2M), reflecting comparable endowment scales. Speer Dream stands apart in two critical dimensions: geographic specificity and operational transparency. Unlike the four peers — three of which have no public-facing web presence and none of which publish a grantee list — Speer Dream maintains an active website, a named leadership team, a live Submittable portal, and a publicly browsable grantee roster of 50+ organizations. This accessibility makes Speer Dream substantially more approachable than comparable-asset private foundations, which often operate as invitation-only or preselected-only funders. The foundation's rapid scaling from near-zero disbursements to $2.9M+ annually also signals a more aggressive deployment philosophy than many family foundations at this asset level, which typically take 3–5 years to establish consistent grantmaking cadence.

The foundation's most significant recent activity unfolded across two phases in 2024. In July 2024, Speer Dream announced its largest grant round on record: over $2.3 million disbursed to 21 Tampa Bay nonprofits spanning all four programmatic pillars. That same month, the foundation presented a $130,000 grant to the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts for the Class Acts Children's Program, with CEO Lisa Vickers stating that "supporting programs that integrate arts into education to help children thrive is directly tied to our mission."

In October 2024, the foundation stepped outside its normal June/December rhythm to respond to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Executive Director Tim Whipple announced $472,500 in emergency grants to nine organizations — Julie Weintraub's Hands Across the Bay, The Kind Mouse, Whatever It Takes Foundation, Reach St. Pete, Heroes of St. Pete Police & Fire Rescue, YMCA of Greater St. Petersburg, Coast Guard Foundation, St. Pete Fools Charities, and Countryside Cares. Total hurricane relief giving was targeted at $600,000 by year-end. Reach St. Pete alone served over 1,000 families following the storms.

Other 2024 highlights included the purchase of a Zeiss Kinevo Microscope for St. Anthony's Hospital to support neurological research, continued multi-year investment in the First Step Scholarship at St. Petersburg College, and a new partnership with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Foundation on a reunification taskforce described as "a critical piece of the emergency response." No leadership changes or major structural announcements were found in 2025–2026 web searches.

Geographic fit is non-negotiable. Speer Dream Foundation funds exclusively in the Tampa Bay region — specifically Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Before investing any time in an application, confirm your programs directly serve communities in or around St. Petersburg, Clearwater, or Tampa. No exceptions have been observed in any known grant cycle.

Map explicitly to one of the four pillars. Education, Medical Support, Military and First Responder Assistance, and Community Outreach are the stated framework. Choose the pillar that best describes your work and anchor your narrative there. The CEO's quote about arts and education — "directly tied to our mission" — reveals that the team responds to clear, confident alignment framing, not vague overlap.

Faith resonance matters, even for secular applicants. This foundation is explicitly Christian faith-based, describing their work as "being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ." You do not need to be a faith-based organization to receive funding — many known grantees are secular. But incorporating values language like compassion, dignity, servant leadership, and community stewardship will strengthen resonance. Avoid framing that appears at odds with their stated values.

Apply through Submittable — and time it carefully. The portal at speerdream.submittable.com/submit is the sole application channel. Disbursements happen in June and December; aim to submit 6–8 weeks before (April–May for the June cycle, October–November for the December cycle). No LOI stage has been publicly described.

Lead with direct individual impact. Tim Whipple has stated the foundation wants funding to reach "the people that we're going to see in Publix tomorrow." Proposals emphasizing direct service to individuals — with real stories and person-level outcomes — will outperform advocacy or systems-change narratives. Use concrete numbers: people served, meals delivered, scholarships awarded.

Build the relationship before you submit. For a first application, contact info@speerdream.org or call 727-405-1515 to introduce your organization. The foundation's "collaborative spirit" value and emphasis on partnerships suggests that relational context informs how new organizations are evaluated.

Target a realistic ask. First-time applicants should request $50,000–$150,000 based on observed grant patterns. The average in a recent round was ~$110,000 across 21 organizations. Requests substantially above $200,000 are more appropriate for organizations with an established relationship.